The NSW Supreme Court has held that solicitors who advised Mr John Symond, founder of “Aussie Home Loans”, were negligent in the advice they gave him in relation to a revised ownership structure to allow him access to funds in a tax advantageous manner for the construction of his new home but which, instead, resulted in a significant…
The ATO on Mon 22.7.2013, released a Decision Impact Statement on the Full Federal Court’s decision in Rawson Finances Pty Ltd v FCT [2013] FCAFC 26. In that case, the Full Federal Court allowed a taxpayer’s appeal and held that amounts deposited in the taxpayer’s bank account from an overseas bank was not income but…
The ATO on Wed 24.7.2013, released the following Class Rulings: CR 2013/54: FBT: employer clients of Mercurien Limited who use the BetterDriver telematics and reporting system for car log book records and for odometer records. It applies from 10 May 2013. Broadly, the Ruling states that the report produced by the system satisfies the definition of “log…
As last month, this TD released on Wed 10.7.2013, states that for the income year that commenced on 1 July 2013, the benchmark interest rate for the purposes of ss 109N and 109E of the ITAA 1936 is 6.20% (down from 7.05% per annum for 2012-13). [LTN 131, 10/7/13]
The ATO on Fri 19.7.2013, released a Decision Impact Statement on the Full Federal Court’s decision in FCT v Greenhatch [2012] FCAFC 84. In that case, the Full Court unanimously upheld the Commissioner’s appeal and overturned a decision of the AAT and held that the assessable income of a beneficiary presently entitled to a discounted…
The Supreme Court of Victoria has held that asset freezing orders obtained by a Deputy Commissioner of Taxation were “without a legitimate purpose”. The Deputy Commissioner had brought proceedings under r 37A of the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedures) Rules 2005 (Vic) for freezing orders over assets to the approximate value of assessments issued to…
The AAT has held the R&D expenditure claimed by a taxpayer was not incurred in the year ended 30 June 2009 and as such it affirmed the Commissioner’s decision to disallow the deduction and impose a shortfall penalty. The taxpayer was an Australian resident company operating in the engineering and software development surveillance industry. It had entered…
The AAT has affirmed the Commissioner’s objection decision concerning a taxpayer’s deduction claim for work-related expenses mainly for travel expenses, but held that the administrative penalty should be remitted to nil. The taxpayer was a truck driver and worked long shifts. He drove from his home in Adelaide to where he worked in Port Augusta.…
The AAT has confirmed that the exclusion from the CGT small business concession in s 152-40(4)(e) of the ITAA 1997 for assets used “mainly to derive rent” applies (as intended) even if the assets are used in “carrying on a business” of a deriving rent. As a result, the AAT held that a range of commercial…
The AAT has upheld the Commissioner’s decision to disallow the taxpayer’s claim for deductions for interest and bank fees of over id=”mce_marker”20,000 incurred [over 2 years] in relation to rental properties purchased by a family discretionary trust that had been set up for that purpose and of which he was the trustee. [The Taxpayer intended…